Wilt experiences joy, pain at conference meet

Published on May 19th, 2010

By VAN WILLIAMS

The Great Northwest Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships started well and ended even better for Unalaska's Hallidie Wilt.

She could have done without the stuff in between, though.

Wilt, a junior all-conference standout for the University of Alaska Anchorage, experienced everything from joy and jubilation to disappointment and discouragement during a roller-coaster performance the two-day meet in Monmouth, Ore.

All told, she did poorly in two events and very well in one.

The 21-year-old runner came into the championships as one of the favorites in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase and looked the part after taking the lead through two laps.

However, she admitted to not feeling 100 percent and faded badly down the stretch to finish ninth.

"I was pretty sick, and I guess I put too much pressure on myself and wasn't able to compete to my ability," Wilt said by telephone. "I was really, really nervous. I was waking up every two hours (the night before), just really anxious about the race."

It didn't get any better the following day as she fizzled in the 1,500, finishing 11th despite having the sixth-best qualifying time.

Just when it seemed like things couldn't get worse, Wilt picked herself up and helped her 4x400 relay team set a school record to end the meet in style.

That had to feel nice, eh?

"Oh, yeah," Wilt said as if the weight of fishing boat was lifted off her shoulders.

The native of Unalaska is no stranger to the UAA record book, setting a school record in the steeplechase earlier this season.

This time, Wilt teamed with senior Meagan Friess, junior Ardrienna Everett and junior Emma Bohman to finish the 4x400 relay race in 4 minutes, 0.61 seconds.

It was good enough for fifth place at the GNAC Championships, just three-tenths behind third-place Western Oregon.

Overall, the UAA women finished sixth out of eight teams from Washington, Idaho, Orgon, Montana and Alaska. For the Seawolves, it was a disappointing result given that they were expected to do better.

And judging by the gloomy tone in Wilt's voice, she still harbors some of the guilt.

She was most upset with her performance in the steeplechase.

"I just had a bad race," she said. "I went out hard and led for the first two laps. It was really hot and I was not feeling my best. I was just mentally out of it.

"After that I was just kind of discouraged. I tried to come back in the 1,500, but I didn't have a very good race there. After that I tried to make up for it in the 4x4 and that went well."

Now Wilt will wait and see if her season is finished.

She is a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Division II Championships in the steeplechase, based on her school-record time earlier in the season. She's on the bubble ranked No. 18 in the country.

"You really don't know how many they're going to take or who will cut out of it," Wilt said. "We'll find out this week."

The NCAA Championships are May 27-29 in Charlotte, N.C. Wilt has never been to Nationals for track, but she has for cross-country running after leading the Seawolves to the West Region title last fall.